On night one of the Southeastern Livestock Exposition and Rodeo in Montgomery, Alabama, 5X World Champion steer wrestler Luke Branquinho proved he really is back! After several seasons riddled with injury and rehabilitation, Luke is again rodeoing full time and looking as good as he ever did. He took round one in Montgomery on Thursday with a time of 3.6 seconds, celebrating with his signature booty shake.
Following his win, Luke talked to Janie Johnson about his run, riding Stetson Jorgenson’s horse Mabel, and being back full time again this season. Watch his full interview with Janie HERE.
2X World Champion Hunter Cure went on to beat Luke’s time by two-tenths of a second on Friday, moving into No. 1 and knocking Luke in No. 2. They continue to hold the top two spots on the leaderboard going into the final night of the rodeo. (See current leaders in all events below.)
This would be a big win for both of the world champs, as Luke sits No. 15 in the PRCA World Standings and Hunter has yet to break the top 50 this season.
LUKE BRANQUINHO - 3.6 SECONDS
HUNTER CURE | 3.4 SECONDS
The final rodeo performance kicks off in Montgomery tonight at 8:00 PM ET — watch it live on The Cowboy Channel or PRCA on Cowboy Channel+ app! For more on the app, click HERE. For a look at our weekend rodeo programming schedule, click HERE.
MONTGOMERY CURRENT LEADERS
BAREBACK RIDING: 1. Clayton Biglow, 88 points on Championship Pro Rodeo’s Meat Cracker; 2. Waylon Bourgeois, 84.5; 3. (tie) Spur Lacasse and Tilden Hooper, 84 each; 5. Wyatt Bloom, 83; 6. Jayco Roper, 81.
STEER WRESTLING: 1. Hunter Cure, 3.4 seconds; 2. Luke Branquinho, 3.6; 3. (tie) Wyatt Jurney and Cade Goodman, 3.9 each; 5. Tanner Milan, 4.0; 6. (tie) Curtis Cassidy and Rowdy Parrott, 4.1 each.
TEAM ROPING: 1. (tie) Lightning Aguilera/Evan Arnold and Tate Kirchenschlager/Cole Davison, 4.1 seconds each; 3. Justin Yost/Reno Gonzales, 4.3; 4. (tie) Braxton Culpepper/Brad Culpepper and Justin Johnson/Chase Graves, 4.7 each; 6. Bubba Buckaloo/Billie Jack Saebens, 4.8.
SADDLE BRONC RIDING: 1. Wyatt Casper, 87 points on Championship Pro Rodeo’s Pow Wow Nights; 2. Stetson Dell Wright, 85.5; 3. Rusty Wright, 83.5; 4. (tie) Brady Hill and Spencer Wright, 82 each; 6. Logan Cook, 80.5.
TIE-DOWN ROPING: 1. Ryle Smith, 6.9 seconds; 2. Adam Gray, 7.2; 3. Shad Mayfield, 7.5; 4. King Pickett, 7.6; 5. (tie) Tuf Case Cooper, Caleb Smidt and Marcos Costa, 7.7 each.
BARREL RACING: 1. Cassidy Kruse Deen, 15.11 seconds; 2. Michelle Alley, 15.20; 3. Ivy Saebens, 15.24; 4. Tiany Schuster, 15.43; 5. Wendy Hoefer, 15.44; 6. Molly Otto, 15.46.
BULL RIDING: 1. Laramie Mosley, 90.5 points on Frontier Rodeo’s County Jail; 2. Matt Palmer, 88.5; 3. (tie) Sage Kimzey and Shane Proctor, 87 each; 5. JB Mauney, 83.5; 6. (tie) Ty Wainwright, Clayton Sellars and Ross Burney, 82.5 each.
